Clarion West + CAM = A growing network of El Rey
Clarion West, an internationally-renowned speculative fiction workshop that has been in Seattle for over 40 years, was among the earliest partners in helping Common Area Maintenance secure a new lease on life for the El Rey. This month, we were thrilled to formalize our partnership, signing a memorandum of understanding while exchanging one of those giant novelty checks that you could serve a family dinner on.
The check represents Clarion West’s $100,000 contribution to the El Rey project, without which the acquisition of the space may never have gotten off the ground, and it marks a key step forward on the long road to rehabilitating and transforming the El Rey to serve creatives of all disciplines throughout Seattle.
Executive Directors Marnee Chua and Timothy Firth Signing the MOU
Members of both the Clarion West and CAM communities were in attendance to celebrate the next step in collaboration between the two groups, and the opportunities this partnership is going to unlock. It’s an exciting new chapter for both organizations, one that brings together two of Seattle’s thriving creative communities and helps both open new doors.
This emphasis on collaboration is nothing new for Clarion West, an organization that brings speculative fiction authors from around the world to the Northwest to learn, write, and workshop together. One of their foundational programs has been an in-person six-week residential writing program. In recent years, though, the COVID pandemic and higher cost of living in Seattle have made this residency an increasingly difficult program to put on, forcing the program to move to an online-only model.
When the El Rey makes its comeback, it will provide studio space and housing for local and visiting artists, including serving as a new permanent home for Clarion West’s residency. This stable, sustainable home will allow the residency to once again become a model of intensive, in-person creative collaboration that helps participants build bonds and forge lasting relationships within Seattle’s literary community.
In addition to a lasting home for the existing residency, the Clarion West team will lend their invaluable expertise as they take the lead in developing a host of further residency programs for the El Rey.
We couldn’t be happier to have Clarion West on board, but we know it will take a much bigger and broader team to open the doors of the El Rey. This is a great time to lend financial support to the project, but we will also need the partnership of creative communities and nonprofits from across the city to keep making progress.
If you have ideas of how we could work together, or just want to see how you can get involved, we want to hear from you - drop a line to elrey@camseattle.org to introduce yourself. And be sure to follow us on Instagram to keep abreast of the latest updates on the El Rey and opportunities to get involved.
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
